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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24868738">The Person Falling Here Is Me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/platinum_firebird/pseuds/platinum_firebird'>platinum_firebird</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>First Kiss, First Meetings, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, Mission Fic, Post-Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Sparring</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 09:28:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>11,641</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24868738</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/platinum_firebird/pseuds/platinum_firebird</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After finally meeting in the newly formed Republic, Luke Skywalker convinces Ezra Bridger to come to Wild Space with him on a mission to search for other lost Jedi.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ezra Bridger/Luke Skywalker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>104</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Fandom 5K 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Person Falling Here Is Me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambiguously/gifts">ambiguously</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first time Luke hears the name ‘Ezra Bridger’ is just after the Battle of Yavin, after the thrill of the fight and the subsequent rush to move their people and the fleet away from the moon has worn off. He’d meant to get on the <em>Falcon </em>with Han and Chewie, but somehow in the confusion he’d ended up on <em>Home One</em>, and now he’s sitting in a forgotten corner, enjoying the fact that for a while no one seems to want him for anything. He’s just considering getting up and asking if there’s somewhere he can catch some sleep when someone sits down next to him.</p><p>Biggs had introduced him just before they’d got into their X-wings for the attack on the Death Star. He’s a serious, almost solemn-looking guy, but Luke gets the feeling Wedge Antilles is livelier on the inside than his outside appearance suggests. “Luke,” he says; then he stops, seeming unsure what to say next. Luke doesn’t interrupt him, and Wedge’s eyes dart down to the lightsaber attached to Luke’s belt before he says, “So - you’re a Jedi?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Luke says automatically, then hesitates. “I mean… I knew a Jedi, and he told me he would train me. But…he died before he could teach me much more than the basics.” Even mentioning Ben’s death brings a twist of pain in his heart, and makes his throat feel thick and clogged.</p><p>Wedge nods, and he doesn’t have to say anything for Luke to know he understands. He lost a lot of friends during their attack on the Death Star. “It’s just, I wondered. Because I knew a Jedi once.”</p><p>That makes Luke sit up and take notice. “You knew a Jedi? Who? Are they still around? Can I meet them?”</p><p>Wedge looks like he wants to smile at Luke’s eager questions, but can’t quite bring himself to. “I wish you could meet him, but he disappeared after the Battle of Lothal.”</p><p>Even out on Tatooine, Luke had heard rumours about the Rebels’ battle against the Empire on Lothal. “The battle with the purgils?” Luke says, and he can’t help a smile, remembering all the times he and the others had joked about the absurdity of that rumour.</p><p>But Wedge’s expression is completely serious. “Yes, the purgils. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, but it’s all true. Every word of it.”</p><p>Luke feels his eyebrows inching toward his hairline. “The purgils destroyed the Seventh Fleet? And pulled the <em>Chimaera </em>away into hyperspace?”</p><p>Wedge nods. “And my Jedi friend was on that ship. He was the one who made it happen.”</p><p>Luke stares at him, open-mouthed. If a Jedi can summon creatures like the purgil to do his bidding through the power of the Force, then there’s clearly a whole wealth of things that Luke still has to learn. “Can you tell me about him?” he asks, breathless, “This Jedi?”</p><p>“Yes,” Wedge says, the corners of his mouth lifting into the tiniest of smiles. “Let me tell you about Ezra.”</p><p>/</p><p>That isn’t the last time Wedge tells him about Ezra, or the last time he hears his name, either. After hearing more about Ezra’s exploits - and by extension, those of Kanan Jarrus and Ahsoka Tano - Luke’s uncomfortably aware that the crash course Ben gave him in the <em>Falcon </em>on their way to Alderaan hadn’t even scratched the surface of what a Jedi should know, or should be able to do.</p><p>But the stories do give him some pointers. Ezra had been able to connect with animals like the purgil, so Luke tries that, too (and fails, several times). All three of them had been able to move things from a distance, to call things to them and throw them using the Force; it takes a few tries, but Luke gets the hang of that, slowly. Sort of. Eventually Luke plucks up the courage to talk to Ezra and Kanan’s former crew members, Flight Leader Syndulla and her intimidating Lasat companion, and they tell him even more - stories of lightsaber battles with Inquisitors, of ancient Jedi temples and Sith monuments. Luke even visits the Temple on Lothal, but although he enjoys meeting Sabine Wren and talking to her, the Temple stays still and silent, of absolutely no help to him at all.</p><p>“Right,” Luke says eventually, sitting down at the mess table in the <em>Falcon</em>. It’s been nearly two years since they blew up the Death Star, and he can feel himself getting more and more frustrated every day - both with the Rebellion’s lack of progress against the Empire, and his own inadequacies as a Jedi. “I’ve made a list of every Jedi who might still be alive. Look.” He pushes his datapad across the table, and Leia, Han and Chewie all lean in to have a look.</p><p>In its entirety, the list consists of five names.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Ahsoka Tano (maybe still alive after fighting Vader?? Body never found)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ezra Bridger (MIA; lost on unclear hyperspace trajectory - Unknown Regions?)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Yoda (death never announced; still an active bounty)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cere Junda/Cal Kestis (MIA; last contact somewhere between the Eudrillion and Zonus systems - Wild Space?)</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>There’s a long moment of silence. “It’s not a lot to go on,” Han says, frowning down at the datapad.</p><p>“I know that,” Luke says, trying not to sound irritated. He can see what Leia’s going to say without even hearing it, so he answers her argument; “I know the Rebellion has a lot of more pressing stuff they need me for, but if I could find one of these people- if they could teach me to be a better Jedi-”</p><p>“No, I understand the benefit. It’s just…” Leia sighs heavily, then begins going down the list. “Even if we never found her body, if Tano didn’t come back from facing Vader, it should be assumed she’s dead. Very few Jedi have ever lived through an encounter with him. As for Bridger, even though she won’t admit it, I know Flight Leader Syndulla has been looking for him on her own time, when she can. Trying to pinpoint his location using the hyperspace trajectory, I think. She hasn’t found anything yet. As for Junda and Kestis, we sent people looking for them, but they also disappeared. Whatever trouble they got into, it’s too risky to go after them.”</p><p>“And Yoda?” Luke asks, though he can feel his heart sinking.</p><p>“Yoda…” Leia spreads her hands. “No one has heard from him since the end of the Clone Wars, and I mean <em>no one.</em> Not even a rumour. If he’s not dead, then he’s so well hidden that I doubt we could find him.”</p><p>“But he could still be out there,” Luke says. “Maybe he’s just waiting for another Jedi to appear. To hear that someone’s still out here.”</p><p>“If that were the case, he would’ve returned for Bridger,” Leia says, which shuts the conversation down. Luke knows she didn’t mean it that way, but the implication of the comment still stings.</p><p>
  <em>If Bridger wasn’t good enough to tempt Yoda out of hiding, what makes you think you are?</em>
</p><p>/</p><p>Of course, in the end Luke <em>does</em> find Yoda. In the end, Luke does become a great Jedi. In the end, Luke takes down Emperor Palpatine himself.</p><p>Ezra doesn’t even have to wait until he gets back to the Republic to hear about this, because about the third or fourth thing out of Sabine’s mouth is, “So, someone beat you to old Palpy.”</p><p>Ezra, fresh off five plus years of hell and weirdness in the Unknown Regions, blinks at her from his seat in the gunner’s chair. “What?”</p><p>Sabine is giving him a shit-eating grin. “Someone took out Palpatine before you,” she says slowly.</p><p>“I figured, since you said the Empire fell,” Ezra says, trying to make light of it, but he probably doesn’t do a particularly good job of hiding the way five years of fantasies about single-handedly defeating Emperor Palpatine are imploding in his mind’s eye. “How, exactly?”</p><p>“I hear Vader chucked him down a reactor shaft,” Sabine says.</p><p>This statement is so absurd that Ezra turns to Ahsoka, who’s currently the one in control of the ship. “It’s true,” she says evenly, though he can feel the complicated roil of her emotions through the Force. “Well, according to Luke, anyway.”</p><p>“Who wouldn’t lie about something like that,” Sabine cuts in, “Therefore, it’s true.”</p><p>“Backtrack a second,” Ezra says, holding up his hands, “Who’s Luke?”</p><p>This is how he hears the tale of Luke Skywalker, Jedi extraordinare, destroyer of Palpatine and darling of the Rebel Alliance. Ezra finds that the more exploits Sabine details, the harder it is to resist the impulse to scowl. When she’s finally finished he says, “So what were me and Kanan - chopped nerf steak?”</p><p>That makes both Ahsoka and Sabine laugh. “I don’t think anyone could forget the purgil, Ezra,” Ahsoka assures him.</p><p>“Yeah, the whole galaxy knows about that,” Sabine says, though she adds under her breath, “Even if only half of them believe it.”</p><p>“You, Kanan and the crew of the <em>Ghost </em>were part of the foundation the Alliance was built on,” Ahsoka says, “Without you, there may not have been a Rebellion for Luke to join - and probably not one in position to take on a mission as audacious as stealing plans to the Death Star.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Ezra says, eager to change the subject, “How did that happen? That would’ve been hard for even us to pull off.”</p><p>Sabine’s eyes light up. “Oh, this is a good one. Okay, so there was this engineer called Erso…”</p><p>/</p><p>The longer Ezra stays in the newly forming Republic - or anywhere in the galaxy that isn’t the Unknown Regions, really - the more he hears about Luke Skywalker. Of course, every time someone gets the barest hint that Ezra is a Jedi, Luke’s name is brought up; either to ask if Ezra is a follower of his, or to tell some story about his exploits. The more he travels, the more it seems that Luke Skywalker has been everywhere first, and probably saved someone’s life at the same time.</p><p>All of which means Ezra is pretty much sick of hearing the name ‘Luke Skywalker’ by the time he finally meets the guy.</p><p>Ezra doesn’t work for the New Republic - he doesn’t work for anyone - but Hera’s been letting him crash in his old room on the <em>Ghost </em>for several months now, so when she asks him to help on a job, he does. Usually that means something exciting, like scamming a cartel or rooting out some last outpost of the Empire.</p><p>This time, it means a party.</p><p>Ezra’s nursing a drink, staying close to Hera’s side and nodding and smiling at people, when she nudges him and says, “Over there. Next to the Princess. That’s Luke.”</p><p>Ezra turns in time to catch sight of a blond head of hair disappearing into the crowd, the figure of Princess Leia next to him unmistakable even from behind. “Right,” Ezra says, not entirely sure what Hera wants him to do with this information.</p><p>She rolls her eyes. “Don’t you want to talk to him?”</p><p>“No,” Ezra says mulishly, looking into the bottom of his drink.</p><p>Hera sighs. “Ezra. He’s the only other Jedi in the galaxy-”</p><p>“Ahsoka is standing right over there.”</p><p>“Yes, Ahsoka, who has been very clear about the fact that she’s <em>not </em>a Jedi.” Hera takes him by the shoulders, turns him around, and points him in Luke Skywalker’s direction. “Go and talk to him.”</p><p>“You treat me as if I’m as old as Jacen,” Ezra grumbles.</p><p>“Jacen doesn’t moan this much,” Hera says, in a tone that clearly communicates that she doesn’t want to see Ezra back at her side until he’s spoken to Luke.</p><p>Grumbling under his breath, Ezra makes his way through the crowd.</p><p>Leia sees him coming, and her face lights up. “You see, I said he would be here,” she says, holding out an arm to welcome Ezra into their conversation. “Luke, this is Ezra Bridger.”</p><p>Ezra is completely ready to make some snide comment to himself about Luke - about the archaic style of Jedi robes he’s wearing, if nothing else - but all that is blown away by a wave of surprise when he actually gets a good look at Luke’s face.</p><p>Because Luke Skywalker is cute.</p><p>Luke Skywalker is not supposed to be cute.</p><p>“Hi,” Ezra says lamely.</p><p>“Hello,” Luke says, and he smiles, and stang, Luke is<em> really</em> cute.</p><p>Ezra is maybe beginning to see why everyone’s constantly singing his praises everywhere he goes.</p><p>“Well, I’m sure you two have a lot to talk about,” Leia says, and she bustles off, abandoning Ezra alone with her twin.</p><p>They stare at each other for a second, and several possible conversation openers go through Ezra’s head. There’s the predictable ‘how do you like this party?’, the controversial ‘so I hear you killed Palpatine?’, or what he actually wants to ask, which is a whole mess of things related to the Jedi and the Force that he can’t find an easy way to articulate.</p><p>What actually comes out of his mouth is, “You kinda look like you’re wearing a bathrobe.”</p><p>Luke blinks, and for a moment Ezra strongly wishes that he could throw himself out of the ten foot tall glass windows of Mon Mothma’s beautiful Chandrilan apartment.</p><p>Then Luke bursts into startled laughter, and Ezra feels something in his chest ease, just a little bit.</p><p>“I told Leia they were terrible, but she wanted me to look ‘traditional’,” Luke says, still grinning, and Ezra finds himself laughing, too.</p><p>Okay. Maybe Luke Skywalker isn’t totally awful.</p><p>They fall into talking about something - Chandrila, or New Republic politics, or maybe piloting. Ezra doesn’t really remember what because he’s too busy thinking about how to bring up the whole Jedi thing, ideally without touching on the war, or whatever the hell is going on with Luke’s family background, or the fact that he either killed or caused the death of possibly the most powerful Sith Lord in the last thousand years. Luke, it seems, is also trying to sound him out without landing on any sensitive subjects, like Ezra’s family, or Kanan, or the <em>Ghost</em>, or his years in the Unknown Regions. It’s a careful, almost hesitant conversation, like they’re dancing over a floor of eggshells, or threading an X-wing through a gap barely wider than it’s wingspan.</p><p>Still, Ezra finds he’s actually disappointed when Luke gets called away to come give some speech. He was, despite all expectations to the contrary, enjoying that conversation.</p><p>Of course, then he sees Hera giving him an <em>I told you so</em> look over the heads of the crowd, and his feelings sour straight back to annoyance.</p><p>/</p><p>Luke was so excited to have met Ezra Bridger that he completely forgot to get his comm frequency.</p><p>He only realises this a few weeks later when he goes to call him up and finds there’s no entry under his name on his comm. “Dammit,” Luke mutters, stumped for a moment.</p><p>Then he calls Leia.</p><p>“I could probably get it for you,” Leia says after a moment of thought, when he’s explained his problem. “Give me a day or so.” She doesn’t ask what he so desperately needs it for - knowing Leia, she’s already figured it out.</p><p>Luke’s comm rings in the middle of the night two days later, and when he answers it with a fuzzy <em>hello</em>, he hears Ezra’s voice say, “Damn, it’s the middle of the night there, I forgot. I can call back-”</p><p>“No, no,” Luke says, suddenly much more awake. “It’s fine, honestly.”</p><p>“Leia gave me your frequency,” Ezra says into the brief moment of awkward silence that follows.</p><p>“Yeah, I asked her- I mean, I realised I didn’t ask for, at the party-” Luke shakes his head, cutting off his own babbling. “Anyway. Are you busy? In the next few days?”</p><p>Ezra takes a moment to consider. “Not really,” he says, “Why?”</p><p>“I’m planning something,” Luke says, “It’s a search. Kind of a…rescue mission. Hopefully.”</p><p>“Hopefully?”</p><p>“If the people I’m trying to rescue are still alive.”</p><p>“Right.”</p><p>“It’s a Jedi thing,” Luke says, because he can almost hear Ezra asking why Luke is calling on him for this, of all people.</p><p>“Lost Jedi?” Ezra asks, suddenly sounding a lot more interested.</p><p>“Yeah, exactly. I have a rough idea of where they went missing, but apart from that…”</p><p>“That’s a start,” Ezra says. “Do you have a ship?”</p><p>“Only my X-wing, so I’ll need to borrow something.”</p><p>“You’ll be starting off from Hosnian Prime, right?” When Luke agrees, Ezra continues, “Give me a few days then. We’re in the Outer Rim right now.”</p><p>“I’ll see if I can get a ship organised,” Luke says, and then the call ends, and Luke finds, for the first time in quite a while, that he’s looking forward to something again.</p><p>The next morning he asks around, and within only a few hours a friend of Wedge’s has come forward, offering him the use of a YT-1300 freighter that so closely resembles the <em>Falcon </em>that Luke almost does a double take when he walks into the hangar.</p><p>“Got everything you need,” Wedge’s friend, Lorcan Pavonis, declares as he shows Luke around the ship. “She’s a fine thing, though I haven’t had nearly enough use for her since settling in here on Hosnian.”</p><p>The <em>Eagle's </em><em>Spirit </em>may look like the <em>Falcon </em>on the outside, but she’s in much better condition inside, and it takes an experienced eye to see evidence of the repairs and maintenance work that’s been carried out over the years. The floorplan is different, too, with spacious crew quarters and only one cargo hold. There’s even a dedicated EVA room on the starboard side, which Lorcan tells him will be invaluable if he ends up needing to investigate a ship that’s dead in space. “Or asteroids, or space stations,” he says, patting the bulkhead fondly. “We used to check out old abandoned Republic installations in this baby. Good times.”</p><p>Luke shakes his head. “How come I never got to go on any of the exciting missions?”</p><p>“Oh no, no excitement in blowing up the Death Star,” Lorcan says, and they both chuckle.</p><p>“Seriously, though,” Luke says, “This seems…well, I had planned to get something smaller-”</p><p>Lorcan stops him with a look. “Trust me, you’ll want some space, even at the expense of fuel efficiency. An X-wing or a Skipray might be fine if you’re on your own, but start adding other people to a space that small, and soon enough you’ll be clawing at the walls. You need separate cabins, if nothing else. Besides, she’s not doing anything useful, sitting here.”</p><p>Luke gives him a grateful smile. “In that case, I’d be glad to borrow her. We’ll bring her back in one piece.”</p><p>“You better,” Lorcan says, mock-serious, and Luke decides he likes the guy.</p><p>Ezra arrives about three days later, by which point Luke has stocked the <em>Spirit </em>with everything he thinks they’ll need - and some things they might not, but the hold is spacious enough to accommodate them, so he figured it wouldn’t hurt.</p><p>“Nice,” Ezra says, looking around the ship appreciatively. “And you just <em>borrowed </em>this?”</p><p>“From a friend of Wedge’s,” Luke confirms.</p><p>“Friends everywhere, that guy,” Ezra says, shaking his head.</p><p>Luke takes him in to see the supplies he’s packed into the hold, wanting his approval but not quite able to make himself spell out the reason. <em>You’ll know what we need to survive in Wild Space because you survived the Unknown Regions with little more than a lightsaber and the clothes on your back</em>, doesn’t sound particularly polite even in his mind, so it would probably be ten times ruder said aloud. Ezra doesn’t question it, though; he looks over the boxes, says they should have another batch of fuel canisters and more bacta, just in case, and then he’s settling into one of the crew cabins while Luke makes the appropriate calls.</p><p>When Luke comes back he finds Ezra in the crew lounge, a glass of water forgotten beside him as he plays the computer at dejarik. He switches it off when Luke slides into the booth opposite him. “So,” he says, “who’re we rescuing?”</p><p>Luke switches on his datapad, and brings up the list he made years ago. It’s changed, of course; Ahsoka and Ezra’s names are now highlighted green, while Yoda’s name has been struck through. It still makes something twinge in Luke’s chest to see that.</p><p>When he shows it to Ezra, he points at the final entry on the list. “I made this ages ago, before I knew you, Ahsoka, or Master Yoda were alive. So far I’ve found out what happened to everyone on the list - except these two.”</p><p>The entry still reads the same as it did before: <em>Cere Junda/Cal Kestis (MIA; last contact somewhere between the Eudrillion and Zonus systems - Wild Space?)</em>.</p><p>“I’ve never heard of them,” Ezra says.</p><p>“They were both Jedi before the Purge; they helped the Alliance get started, and they were involved with Saw Guerra’s Partisans, at least in the early days. I don’t know much about them aside from that, other than the fact that they went missing about ten years ago on a mission, and haven’t been heard from since.”</p><p>Ezra’s incredulous look says it all. “Ten years?”</p><p>“I know it’s a long shot, but so was everyone else on the list. I want to at least try.”</p><p>Ezra thinks about it for a second, and then shrugs. “I suppose if I could survive five years out there, maybe they could’ve survived this long, too.” He’s trying to make it a joke, but Luke can see bad memories hiding behind his eyes.</p><p> Luke doesn’t ask. He hesitates for a second before saying, “It might be dangerous. The rescue team that was sent after them disappeared, too.”</p><p>“Any indication why?”</p><p>Luke shakes his head. “They just went silent.”</p><p>“Sounds dangerous,” Ezra says, and his smile tells Luke he’s already decided to come along.</p><p>/</p><p>After spending a day in hyperspace with him, Ezra feels like kind of an ass about how he used to hate Luke Skywalker.</p><p>The guy is just about the most considerate, accommodating, easy to get along with crewmate he’s ever had (though considering he used to share a bunk with <em>Zeb</em>, maybe this isn’t all that surprising). Luke takes half the cooking duties, cleans up after himself, and checks on their course every three hours like clockwork. Ezra is an alright pilot, but Luke clearly takes pleasure in even the tedious and routine aspects of long haul space flight, so Ezra mostly lets him get on with it.</p><p>The upshot, though, is that after two days, he’s bored stiff.</p><p>They spent the first day going over their search plan and reading anything they could get their hands on about the particular area of space they’re headed to, which wasn’t much. With all that done, day two was mostly free time - but there’s only so many times Ezra can play a round of dejarik or sabacc before he feels like his brain is going to melt.</p><p>“This would be the point where Hera would tell me off for not bringing ‘something to do’,” Ezra says, his head laid against his crossed arms on the mess table.</p><p>“There was always something that needed fixing in the <em>Falcon</em>,” Luke says. “Or, in my X-wing, I used to just meditate.”</p><p>Ezra grins a little. “Kanan used to do that all the time.”</p><p>“It does prevent you from going mad with boredom, when it’s just you and your droid, and the ship’s not even big enough for you to stand up.”</p><p>Ezra makes a face. “Remind me never to get in an X-wing.”</p><p>“Hey, X-wings are great!”</p><p>“As a porg-hutch, maybe.” Luke’s outraged expression is unexpectedly cute, so Ezra keeps going. “Besides, there’s no ship in the galaxy that can hold a torch to the <em>Ghost</em>.”</p><p>“Now, hang on-” Luke says, and Ezra tries to hide his smirk as Luke launches into a heated defence of both the <em>Falcon </em>and X-wings in general. His scowl is ridiculously adorable when he gets all riled up, as is his triumphant smile when Ezra finally admits that yeah, okay, <em>maybe </em>the <em>Falcon </em>could equal the <em>Ghost</em>, at least on a good day. Looking at Luke is as good a way to spend time as any; Ezra just ignores the weird feeling it gives him, deep in his chest. Luke is cute and nice to be around, and it doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that.</p><p>It’s the fourth day when Ezra says, “Okay, I know one thing we haven’t done yet.”</p><p>“What?” Luke asks, slight suspicion dawning on his face.</p><p>“Sparring,” Ezra says, wondering for a second what Luke thought he was going to say.</p><p>Luke glances from side to side. “Where?” he asks, which is a legitimate question, because there’s not a whole lot of open areas on the <em>Spirit</em>.</p><p>Ezra, though, has thought about that. “We’d have to tidy it up a bit, but there is <em>one </em>area in this ship that we could use.”</p><p>Luke nods, so Ezra leads him from the crew lounge and around the hub corridor until they reach two doors, neither of which they’ve had occasion to go through yet on the trip. One leads into the circuitry bay, but the other is the one Ezra opens, watching Luke’s face as he takes in the space. “A droid workshop,” Ezra says, though that’s obvious from the workbench and the deactivated protocol droid and astromech pushed against the far wall. “I thought, if we moved these boxes…”</p><p>Luke is already nodding. “I’ll get the hover-loader; they’ll probably fit in the hold…”</p><p>After they’ve cleared the room, they stand facing each other across the space, unlit sabers in hand. “To first hit, then?” Ezra says, turning down the power output on the hilt of his saber until it will cause only mild pain on contact, rather than slicing through anything it touches. </p><p>Luke mock-winces. “And ruin my jacket?”</p><p>“Wimp,” Ezra laughs, and they both take up opening stances.</p><p>“Ready?” Luke asks, and for a moment it feels like something is buzzing through the air between them, something Ezra never felt when he sparred with Kanan. Some connection, like heat or electricity in the air, passing between them when his eyes meet Luke’s.</p><p>“Ready,” Ezra confirms, and he drops into a ready stance, pacing sideways.</p><p>Luke doesn’t immediately come for him, instead mirroring his stance and taking a measured step backward. They both take tense, short steps, not quite circling each other, but neither quite willing to be the first to make a move.</p><p>Eventually Ezra gets impatient and darts forward, swinging at Luke’s shoulder. He lifts his lightsaber easily to block it, as Ezra expected he would. Then Luke swings back, and Ezra blocks, blocks again, twisting round and following through with his own strike after several parries. After half a minute of this, he wonders if Luke is playing with him; about ten seconds more and he realises that no, Luke is just being the kind of patient, strategic fighter Kanan was always encouraging him to be. He’s getting a feel for Ezra’s style, his defences. “Methodical,” he says as they break apart again.</p><p>“When I have the time to be,” Luke says, his expression wry, and it’s easy enough to infer that Luke has not always been the galaxy’s most level-headed fighter.</p><p>“Luke Skywalker jumping rashly into a situation?” Ezra says, mock-horrified.</p><p>“It’s more likely than you think,” Luke says, though his tone is slightly begrudging. His eyes flash with a challenge as he says, “Are you just going to crack jokes?”</p><p>“Cracking jokes is half the fun of sparring,” Ezra says, grinning at him, though he follows the words up with a quick, snapping swing that has Luke instantly on the defensive. They don’t talk for a while after that, instead trading blows back and forth, with Ezra throwing in some leaps where appropriate. The space is big compared to the rest of the ship, but pokey compared to the vast plains on Lothal where he and Kanan first started sparring.</p><p>In the end, though Ezra is pretty sure he’s held the upper hand through most of the fight, he slips up, and Luke’s saber darts through his guard to bounce with a light sizzle off his forearm. “Ow,” he says, rubbing the spot even though it doesn’t really hurt. “I guess that’s my hand gone.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Luke says, though his smile is suddenly strained, and Ezra has no idea why. “It’s not actually up too high, right?”</p><p>His expression is so earnestly worried that Ezra can’t help but laugh at him. “I’m messing with you; it barely singed me.” He raises his saber again, dropping into the ready position. “Round two?”</p><p>In they end they go best of five, and Luke wins, <em>just</em>. Or maybe Ezra kinda lets him win, if only to wipe away that tension that’s entered his eyes, and it does the trick; whatever dark thing Luke was thinking about, it seems banished from his mind by the time they make their way back to the crew lounge. “I’ll go check on our course,” he says, and Ezra sits back down on the couch, satisfied.</p><p>Maybe now he’ll finally have the brainpower for another game of dejarik.</p><p>/</p><p>The first leg of their journey ends in the Eudrillion system, the place Kestis and Junda started from. “What were they looking for, out here?” Ezra asks, peering out of the cockpit’s forward viewport. They’re orbiting a small, rocky planet, far distant from the system’s bright star.</p><p>“New recruits,” Luke says simply, his eyes on the controls. “The Alliance was desperate for anyone who had the slightest chance of wanting to fight the Empire, back then.”</p><p>“Scraping the bottom of the barrel looking out in Wild Space,” Ezra says.</p><p>“Like I said, we were desperate.” Luke sighs as he sits back in his chair. “I can’t see anything here. The only settlement was a mining station down there, and it looks like it’s been abandoned.”</p><p>“So we follow their trail on to Zonus,” Ezra says, and notes how Luke’s mouth twists at the words. “Or not? You don’t like that idea?”</p><p>“I don’t like the idea of falling prey to whatever happened to them,” he says.</p><p>That, Ezra admits, is a good point - but he can’t think of any other way to proceed. “Well…maybe whatever got them will be gone by now.”</p><p>“I hope so. Or maybe we can survive it?” Luke hedges, though he looks unconvinced.</p><p>“Let’s just make the jump to Zonus,” Ezra says, and Luke nods before beginning to program the hyperdrive.</p><p>The Zonus system is only a short jump away, barely more than an hour or two, so both of them stay sitting in the cockpit, ready for any sign of danger. They try conversation for a while, but each time it peters out into uneasy silence. “I hate this,” Ezra says, his voice low and tense, and Luke nods tightly in agreement.</p><p>Ezra reaches out with the Force, and he can feel…something. A warning, a small alarm bell beginning to ring, just quietly, but getting louder-</p><p>Then the cockpit is filled with the wailing noise of an <em>actual </em>alarm, and Luke curses under his breath. Both their hands fly toward the hyperspace lever before Ezra even consciously registers that what he’s hearing is the hyperspace proximity alarm; there’s no time to waste, so they pull it together, reverting the ship back to realspace.</p><p>The fact that they’re both ready on the controls, jumpy and paranoid, is what saves them. The wail of the proximity alarm changes tone, signalling incoming fire, and Luke spins the ship, avoiding the hit. Ezra brings up the tactical map even as Luke asks, “Where’s the enemy ship?”</p><p>It takes a second for Ezra to process what he’s looking at. “No ship,” he says, even as Luke dodges another burst of incoming fire. “I think it’s an orbital station.” A few more seconds staring at the map gives him a solution. “Get on vector six eight three four and punch it; we can hide behind that moon.”</p><p>It’s a hairy minute or so, but Luke does as he says, dipping and dodging the laser fire with a skill equal to or possibly even greater than Hera’s. The <em>Spirit’s </em>quadlasers will likely be useless against a station’s shields, so there’s nothing Ezra can do to help but hold on and keep quiet, his grip on the arms of the co-pilot’s chair white-knuckled.</p><p>It seems to take an age, but they make it out of the cannons’ range of fire, and Luke slips them into a stationary orbit on the dark side of the small moon Ezra had indicated on the tactical map. Then he leans back in his seat, running a hand through his hair and blowing out a big breath. “Okay,” he says finally, “Can we review what the hell is going on?”</p><p>Ezra brings the tactical map of the system up on the holoprojector. “We were pulled out of hyperspace by something around here,” Ezra says, pointing. “Since anything exiting hyperspace right there would be in the perfect spot for the orbital stations to shoot at them, I have to assume it’s intentional. The orbital station is here,” he says, pointing again, “and it’s not alone. There’s a whole ring of them around this planet.”</p><p>“A planetary defence system?”</p><p>“Looks like it.”</p><p>“I guess that explains what happened to Kestis and Junda, and the rescue team,” Luke says, sadness filling his eyes. “They really are dead.”</p><p>“Maybe,” Ezra says, “But we managed to survive. Maybe they did, too.”</p><p>“But they didn’t come back,” Luke points out.</p><p>“Maybe their ship was damaged.” Turning, Ezra starts fiddling with the ship’s scanning equipment. “See if you can move us out of the moon’s shadow without getting in range of that cannon. If we could find some debris, it could indicate what happened to them.”</p><p>“Got it.”</p><p>As Ezra sets up the scan, Luke edges the ship out from behind the moon, making sure to keep his distance from the orbital station. “That’s perfect,” Ezra says, adjusting the scanner a little more. “Okay. It’ll take a second.”</p><p>They sit in silence; Luke is chewing his lip, his eyes scanning the view of the system in front of them. He’s nervous, Ezra thinks, that maybe they’ve come all this way for nothing. “Even if we don’t find them, we have a better idea what happened, now,” Ezra says into the tense silence.</p><p>Luke gives him a quick nod. He clearly won’t be satisfied until they find out exactly what happened to Kestis and Junda, if that’s even possible. Ezra gives up talking, and instead watches as the scanner completion bar slowly fills up.</p><p>The noise seems very loud in the silence when the system beeps, indicating that it’s finished. “Anything?” Luke asks, sitting forward eagerly.</p><p>Ezra blinks as he looks at the screen. “There are a <em>lot</em> of destroyed ships out there,” he says, picking through the results. “Kinda surprised we didn’t hit one on the way in.” He catches something, and his stomach drops. “One of them still has the transponder on. It’s an Alliance call sign.”</p><p>Luke comes to look over his shoulder, and after a second he says, “It’s a light freighter. That was the rescue team’s ship.”</p><p>“Are you sure?” Ezra asks, frowning at the screen.</p><p>Luke nods. “Kestis and Junda’s ship wasn’t a freighter; it was a luxury yacht. An S-161 Stinger XL.”</p><p>“Guess the Jedi who joined early got the Alliance’s best ships,” Ezra says, and Luke flashes him a grin.</p><p>“It was their private vessel, I think. Or a friend’s.” Luke scans the data, frowning. “There’s so much debris out there; it’ll be impossible to pick out anything that might’ve been from their ship.”</p><p>“And none of the destroyed ships that’re intact enough to scan match the profile of a Stinger, at least at first look.” They fall silent for a second, but something is nagging at Ezra. “The Stinger class was high on shields but low on firepower, right? They might have been able to take a hit, but not have been able to go on the attack.” Luke nods. “And, if they aren’t dead in orbit, and they never came back…”</p><p>“Maybe they crash-landed,” Luke says. They both look over to the comm panel at the same time, then catch each other’s eyes and grin. Their failed mission suddenly has a spark of hope again. “They still might not have survived atmospheric entry. Or the landing,” Luke says.</p><p>“But we’ll never know until we check,” Ezra says, giving the comm system another significant look.</p><p>Luke moves over and starts scanning across the channels. As soon as he tunes it to the frequency used by Republic rescue beacons, he gets a response; just a simple signal, nothing more than a position. “It’s down on the planet,” Luke says, and they grin at each other again, suddenly full of hope.</p><p>A rescue beacon like that wouldn’t come on automatically; they had to be activated by a crew member. It was possible that one of the crew had activated the device before their crash landing, which might mean the beacon would lead them to nothing but wreckage; but it was equally likely that the beacon had been activated later, by a survivor in desperate hope of rescue.</p><p>“There’s still the orbital stations to deal with,” Ezra says.</p><p>“We can get through,” Luke says, “See if you can raise them on the comms, and I’ll see if I can figure out a way past.”</p><p>They switch places so Luke can fiddle with the tactical map while Ezra operates the comms. The signal from the rescue beacon is the same every time Ezra checks, but every other channel gives him no answer but static. On a whim he directs a message at the nearest orbital station instead of the planet’s surface, and is surprised to get a response. “<em>This planet is protected by the Klaar Initiative,” </em>a robotic voice says, “<em>Trespassers will be destroyed</em>.”</p><p>“Hello?” Ezra says, “We need to request access-”</p><p>“<em>This planet is protected by the Klaar Initiative. Trespassers will be destroyed</em>.”</p><p>“I know, but I’m wondering if we could-”</p><p>“<em>This planet is protected by the Klaar Initiative. Trespassers will be destroyed</em>.”</p><p>“Just an automated message,” he says, as the same phrase keeps repeating over and over.</p><p>“That answers the question of if the stations are manned or not, though,” Luke points out.</p><p>Ezra nods, staring out at the planet. The shining silver of an orbital station is just visible, winking in the light of the system’s star.</p><p>“What I’m wondering is, if the planet is off-limits, why are ships being pulled out of hyperspace in this system?” Luke asks.</p><p>“That technology is… there are certain groups who use it, out here,” Ezra says, avoiding mentioning the name <em>Grysk</em>, just so he won’t have to explain…everything. Those memories are best left alone. “Maybe someone set it up as a trap - someone different to whoever set up the orbital stations.”</p><p>“Seems likely.” Luke sighs as he sits back and looks at Ezra. “No response from the planet?”</p><p>Ezra shakes his head. “Nothing.”</p><p>“Okay. Well, we have the position of the beacon, at least, and I <em>think </em>I’ve worked out a way we can get through the orbital stations.” He motions toward the tactical map. “The stations don’t just stay in one place; they move around in a patrol pattern. I’ve modelled the paths all of them <em>should </em>follow, if they don’t deviate from what we’ve been observing since we entered the system. We’ll need to hang around for a while and observe a bit more, just to make certain, but it looks like there’s a moment when a relatively safe corridor opens up. It’s only for a couple of minutes, though, so we’ll need to be quick.”</p><p>“How close is it to the beacon?”</p><p>“The corridor opens up over several different places on the planet, depending on the stations’ rotation. There should be an opening close to the crash site in about fourteen hours.”</p><p>“By which time we’ll probably know if the stations are going to deviate from the pattern.” Ezra purses his lips, staring at the tactical map. “This looks solid, but…”</p><p>“But?”</p><p>“But what if the orbital stations don’t stop shooting once we enter atmosphere? Or even once we’re on the ground?”</p><p>Luke frowns. “That’s a point. I hadn’t even thought of that.”</p><p>“Just destroying one of the stations would be better.”</p><p>“So long as destroying one wouldn’t cause the others to leave their set pattern to get an angle on us,” Luke says.</p><p>“Right,” Ezra says, trying not to let frustration creep into his voice. “If we knew where they were - if they’re there - then the best plan would be to destroy a station, pick them up, and then get the hell out before any of the other stations could retaliate.”</p><p>Luke doesn’t point out that they haven’t figured out if there even are any survivors, let alone where they are. “Did you set up an automatic comm message to the planet? Maybe they’ll pick it up if we keep broadcasting it.”</p><p>Ezra grins despite himself. “Yeah, I did. Just in case they’re out fishing.”</p><p>They share a laugh, but it only lasts for a moment. “Do you think we <em>can </em>destroy one of the stations?” Ezra asks.</p><p>“We have several proton torpedoes,” Luke says, “Though it’ll take a few good shots.”</p><p>“No fear, then, with me at the controls,” Ezra says, intending to make Luke laugh, and he does. He likes it a lot better when Luke’s laughing, even though there’s not much reason for it in their current situation. “Okay, look at it another way; is there any possibility we could find out whether they’re alive or not without going down there?”</p><p>Luke sits back in his seat, thinking about it. “We don’t have any probe droids,” he says, “And the stations would probably fire on anything powered that came in range, whether there were life signatures or not.”</p><p>The words <em>anything powered </em>spark an idea in Ezra’s mind. “Okay, but what about a <em>deactivated </em>droid,” he says.</p><p>“It could pass as a meteorite,” Luke says, catching on instantly. Then his face falls. “But, as I said, we don’t have any probe droids.”</p><p>“No, but we do have that astromech.”</p><p>Luke looks uncomfortable. “It’s Lorcan’s astromech we’d be risking-”</p><p>“And his entire ship we’re risking if we go up against that orbital station,” Ezra points out.</p><p>“Fair enough. So, we let it drift past the orbital stations, then switch it on remotely.” Luke frowns. “It’ll be able to stand up to atmospheric entry, right?”</p><p>“Should be fine; those models are pretty tough.”</p><p>“Alright. It’s worth a shot.” Luke turns back to the tactical map and fiddles with it for a second before saying, “That clear corridor won’t be over the crash site for a while, but there will be a moment about five hours from now where the astromech should be able to come down right on top of the beacon without coming very close to any of the stations. We should aim for then.”</p><p>“Right,” Ezra says, standing, “Then let’s go turn it on.”</p><p>Luckily for them, R3-D5 doesn’t have R2’s mischievous, stubborn personality. When they outline their plan, it agrees without comment. Luke feels a little bad for it, as he watches it wheel off to go check on the engine and hyperdrive. He knows that technically droids are supposed to follow their masters’ orders without question or complaint, but he’s spent so long with droids like R2 and 3P0 that R3’s blank acceptance of being sent to it’s potential doom makes Luke slightly unnerved.</p><p>The expression on Ezra’s face says he feels similarly, and he confirms it when he says, “Chopper would’ve shocked me for even suggesting a plan like that.”</p><p>“Chopper?”</p><p>“Hera’s astromech. He’s a cranky little shit,” Ezra says as they sit down in the crew lounge. “Used to pick up at least one new bruise a week from scrapping with him.”</p><p>“R2’s just cheeky,” Luke says, “And stubborn. And kind of a daredevil. He would’ve complained first, but I bet he would’ve agreed to this plan in the end.”</p><p>“But you didn’t bring him?”</p><p>Luke winces. “No. He <em>really </em>wanted to come, but part of his memory bank needed a critical overhaul. It couldn’t wait, and I didn’t want to delay the mission.” Having to make that call had sucked, but Luke hadn’t known how Ezra would react to him wanting to delay by an entire week just so they could wait for one particular astromech droid. He knew most people weren’t so fussy about which droid came along with them - but, given Ezra’s tone when he talked about Chopper, maybe he would’ve understood after all. “Still, I’m kind of glad it’s not R2 we’re launching out into space. Even if it does mean we’ll need to buy Lorcan a new droid, if anything goes wrong.”</p><p>“Just another thing to add to the debt I already owe Hera,” Ezra says, wincing. “Y’know, being a Jedi might be cool, but it’s not a great way to make credits.”</p><p>Luke laughs. <em>That </em>is a complaint he can more than understand. “Tell me about it. At least with the Alliance someone else was handling the funding and we could just complain about it. I came out of that war and realised that I didn’t actually own much of <em>anything</em>, at least, not legally in my own name. Not even my X-wing was <em>mine</em>, technically, because it belonged to the Alliance - though they transferred ownership to me pretty readily.”</p><p>“I <em>did </em>own a house, before the Empire blew it up. I used to live in an old comm tower, but when the government on Lothal got back on it’s feet they took it back, obviously.” Ezra laughs. “And I wasn’t exactly around to contest ownership.”</p><p>Luke eyes him, but looks away when Ezra catches his gaze. He’s desperately curious about all those years Ezra spent in the Unknown Regions, how he survived and what he found out there, but it’s not the sort of subject that’s easy to broach, and the look in Ezra’s eyes whenever it comes up suggests he wouldn’t appreciate the discussion. “Yoda and Ben encouraged me to rebuild the Jedi Order,” he says, to change the subject, “but I think they underestimated all the practical concerns involved in that. It’s easy enough to say ‘train a new generation of Jedi’, but it’s harder when you start thinking about where those new Jedi are going to live, or what they’ll eat.”</p><p>Ezra is regarding him with a curious expression. “You’re going to rebuild the Jedi?”</p><p>“Maybe? I’ve been thinking about it, at least.” Luke sighs, feeling all the worries and doubts associated with this line of thought coming back to him. “To be honest, that’s part of why I wanted to meet you, and find Kestis and Junda. Just in case… I mean, it would be less hard, if I had other people to help me rebuild.” He clears his throat, looking away from Ezra’s gaze. “If anyone else was interested.”</p><p>“I hadn’t even thought about it,” Ezra says. “I’ve been thinking about myself, mostly, for the past year.” He nudges Luke’s knee with his foot. “You’re a pretty selfless guy, huh?”</p><p>That makes Luke want to blush, though he’s not sure whether it’s the words or the physical contact. “Maybe. But, after all you’ve done, you don’t…” He trails off awkwardly, making an abortive hand gesture. He kind of hopes Ezra will step in to fill his awkward silence, but he doesn’t. “I mean, you sacrificed almost ten years of your life for the galaxy, and five of those in the Unknown Regions,” Luke says in a rush, “You deserve a little bit of selfishness, I think.”</p><p>Luke can tell from Ezra’s smile that he’s touched by that, though his tone is still casual when he says, “Sure, but I didn’t walk into Emperor Palpatine’s throne room without my lightsaber.”</p><p>Just the words bring back the memory, a scene Luke still sees in his nightmares. It sends a shiver running down his spine. “We all took a lot of stupid risks for the Alliance,” he says quietly. “After all that, the idea of teaching people about the Force… it seems attractively calm, in comparison. Safe.”</p><p>“Just also money-guzzling and full of difficult practicalities,” Ezra says.</p><p>“Exactly.” Luke shakes his head. “And on top of everything, Leia’s been arguing with the New Republic that, since I’m the last Jedi in existence, technically the Jedi Temple on Coruscant should belong to me. I asked her what the hell she thought I was going to do with it, if they agreed, but she didn’t seem to understand my reluctance.”</p><p>“You wouldn’t start the Jedi from there, again?”</p><p>Luke shakes his head. “I thought… well, I had this idea that it might be better not to tie the Jedi so closely to the Republic any more. To try and fix the mistakes of the past.” He snorts. “It sounds so pretentious when I say it like that.”</p><p>“It’s better than blindly repeating them,” Ezra says. “Plus, just imagine the utility bills on that place.”</p><p>“<em>Exactly</em>.”</p><p>Ezra smiles, but his brow is furrowed in a small frown, as if he’s thinking about something. “I never really considered passing on my training,” he says quietly. “I just never had time to focus on it. I guess if I’d ever found another Force-sensitive person I might’ve offered, but…”</p><p>“That’s the other problem,” Luke says, “Even if I had somewhere for them all to train and sleep, or enough food for them to eat, I’ve no idea how to<em> find</em> potential Jedi. The old Order used to only take Initiates on as children, but at this point I’d settle for anyone I could get.” He gestures between himself and Ezra. “Plus, the two of us started training as teenagers, and we came out fine.”</p><p>“Debatable,” Ezra says, which makes them both laugh.</p><p>After a moment Ezra says, “You know, if you <em>don’t </em>want to rebuild the Jedi, you don’t have to.”</p><p>Luke blinks at him. “What?”</p><p>“I mean, you said Yoda encouraged you into the idea. But only <em>you</em> can make the choice to do it.”</p><p>Luke shakes his head. “I know. I mean, I’ve thought about that a lot, and I did consider just, I don’t know, living a normal life or something-”</p><p>“Farming?” Ezra asks, and laughs at the expression Luke makes.</p><p>“But I did decide to do it. To commit to rebuilding the Order, even if the task’s so big I barely know where to begin.” Luke gives Ezra an apologetic smile. “Sorry. I don’t mean to complain about it.”</p><p>“It’s okay.” Ezra is giving him a thoughtful look. “You could just start small. It doesn’t have to be a huge thing right away. It could be you, a ship, and a few padawans. Nothing more complicated than that.”</p><p>The image that paints in Luke’s head is a nice one; a small group, roaming the galaxy together. Like a family, maybe. He finds he wants to ask <em>and you?</em>, but it’s ridiculous to presume Ezra would want to be there. It’s ridiculous that Luke feels so strongly that he <em>wants </em>him there, after they’ve known each other for such a short time, but there’s something easy and comfortable about spending time with Ezra; the way they talk, the way they spar, the way they work together. Luke’s used to making friends pretty fast, but this feels different.</p><p><em>Like a crush, maybe, </em>his mind supplies, and he winces internally.</p><p>“Or it could be a house, I don’t know,” Ezra says, looking awkward, and Luke realises he’s left it too long without replying.</p><p>“It sounds good,” he says, and then without thinking, “Kinda like you and the others on the <em>Ghost</em>.”</p><p>The smile Ezra gives him is bittersweet. “Yeah, it would be.”</p><p>“Is it just you and General Syndulla on the <em>Ghost </em>now?” Luke asks.</p><p>Ezra nods. “Me, Hera and Jacen, yeah. And Chopper. Sabine’s back on Mandalore and Zeb’s off being married and gross with Kallus, so.”</p><p>“Oh god, I know the feeling. I practically moved in with Wedge after Han and Leia got married.”</p><p>They both laugh, and then R3 rolls in to announce that it’s finished with the engineering checks, which prompts Ezra to suggest that they play a round of sabacc including the droid, effectively closing the book on deep conversations for the moment. Luke is dubious, but seeing R3 woodenly employ the sabacc protocol that Ezra downloads for it is hilarious, and by the time he gets the alert that they should start preparing to send R3 out, Luke is almost disappointed that they have to stop.</p><p>“Remember,” he says to R3, as they prepare it in the EVA room, “as soon as we turn your power back on, make for the surface. Finding survivors is the top priority.”</p><p><em>//Understood// </em>R3 says. Luke feels even worse that they’re potentially sending it to it’s death, now they’ve bonded with it a little bit, but R3 still seems completely unphased.</p><p>“Powering down now,” Ezra says, and R3’s lights go dim. “Right. I’ll wheel him out into the airlock, and you go turn the ship.”</p><p>The plan is for Ezra, now in a spacesuit, to push R3 out of the airlock toward the planet once Luke gets the ship at the right angle. So long as they’ve calculated it right, R3 should float unassumingly down toward the planet, as unnoticeable as a meteorite or any other piece of space junk. Luke plays around with the <em>Spirit’s </em>position and angle, manoeuvring it until it’s in line with the starting point the computer has given them. “In position,” he says, “Push him out.”</p><p>Ezra does so, and a little blip appears on the map. Instead of planting a tracker or anything else that would send a signal, Luke and Ezra went through the general knick-knacks and miscellaneous possessions on board the <em>Spirit </em>until they found something made of kayberite, a little figure of some god or goddess. Kayberite is rare in this part of the galaxy, and the <em>Spirit’s </em>scanners can pick it up at a distance without the risk that the orbital stations will detect R3 transmitting a signal. <em>I just hope Lorcan wasn’t fond of that figurine, </em>Luke thinks as he watches R3’s dot float toward the planet.</p><p>It seems to take an age, with Luke constantly worried that R3 will veer off course and get lost. Ezra comes back in after a while, changed back into his normal clothes, and says, “Everything going well?”</p><p>“So far,” Luke says, pointing at the tactical map. “R3’s within range now, and they haven’t shot it yet.”</p><p>“That’s something.” Ezra flops down into the co-pilot’s chair, and the two of them watch with increasing tension as R3 inches toward its goal. The orbital stations seem to be ignoring it, but Luke is just waiting for one of them to move, for a warning to come that they’re powering up their armaments.</p><p>Nothing comes, and R3 begins to fall into the atmosphere, moving faster as it’s pulled by the planet’s gravity. The signal doesn’t waver, which means it hasn’t burnt up on entry, and Luke and Ezra exchange a glance. Ezra nods, and Luke hits the button to remotely power R3 up.</p><p>He half-expects the stations to immediately move toward R3’s position, but they don’t. “R3?” he says over the comms, and he gets a reassuring beep back. “Are you alright?”</p><p><em>//Slightly heat-damaged, but the majority of my systems are functional// </em>R3 says. <em>//Approaching the ground now. Climate is moderate, air is breathable; this area is heavily forested.//</em></p><p>“Can you see the ship?” Ezra asks.</p><p><em>//Negative. Five miles and closing on the beacon’s signal.// </em>R3 goes silent, and the two of them wait, watching the dot that represents it inch across the planet’s surface.</p><p><em>//Ship located// </em>R3 says about five minutes later, and they both tense. <em>//It is currently unusable, but it is whole enough to be effectively salvaged. Now beginning life scans.//</em></p><p>“Land by the ship and see if they’re using it as shelter,” Luke suggests.</p><p>R3 beeps an affirmative. <em>//Landed. Ship’s ramp is down. I am entering//</em></p><p>“It’s a good sign that the ramp is down, right?” Ezra asks.</p><p>“Maybe?” Luke hedges. He feels that it is, probably, but he doesn’t want to get his hopes up.</p><p><em>//There is no one inside, though there are clear signs of habitation// </em>R3 says after another few moments. <em>//I shall move back outside//</em></p><p>Luke realises that he’s gripping the arms of the pilot’s chair so hard it hurts. <em>Signs of habitation </em>keeps playing in his mind, and the hope in his chest is so strong it feels like he could burst.</p><p>R3 is silent for a long time, long enough that Luke curses not fitting it with some kind of camera, before it says <em>//Something is approaching through the forest. Unclear whether it is a sentient being or an animal//</em></p><p>“If you see a native creature make for the ship,” Luke says urgently.</p><p><em>//Affirmative// </em>After another few seconds R3 says <em>//A Latero male and a human female are approaching//</em></p><p>“A Latero?” Ezra questions.</p><p>“They had a Latero pilot,” Luke says, drumming his fingers.</p><p>There’s silence for a second, and Ezra mutters something about Binary that Luke only half hears right before R3 contacts them again. <em>//Human female confirms she is Cere Junda// </em>R3 says, making relief and shock course through Luke’s chest. <em>//She would like to communicate. Shall I connect?//</em></p><p>“Yes, yes,” Luke says, and with a crackling warble, R3 opens a different channel on their ship’s comms, an open channel filled for a moment with nothing but the rush of wind and rustling branches - before a human voice speaks.</p><p>“Hello? Can you hear me?” The voice is female, older, and tense, though with suspicion or desperation, Luke can’t tell.</p><p>“Yes; I’m Luke Skywalker.” <em>I’m here to rescue you, </em>Luke thinks, and he can’t help a smile. “We’re from the Alliance.”</p><p>“The Alliance!” a male voice exclaims in the background, and he hears Cere gasp softly.</p><p>“We’ve been waiting a long time for you,” she says, and Luke can hear the restrained emotion in her voice.</p><p>“I know - I’m sorry it took this long. The first rescue ship was destroyed, but we managed to avoid that.”</p><p>“And so did your droid,” Cere says.</p><p>“Sent him in powered down; they must’ve mistaken him for something else, debris maybe.”</p><p>“Clever. So, do <em>you</em> have a plan to get in past those orbital stations as well?”</p><p>“Yes,” Luke says, “I just hope it’ll work.”</p><p>“I wouldn’t like to be in your shoes, I tell you that,” the male voice says.</p><p>“Our window is in about,” Luke checks the chrono, “nine hours. Can you be ready?”</p><p>“I’ve been ready since the moment we landed here,” the male voice mutters.</p><p>“Absolutely,” Cere says.</p><p>Luke hesitates for a second before asking, “Before - there were four members of your crew, right? Are you all…?”</p><p>“We’re all still alive,” Cere confirms, “Cal and Merrin went hunting this morning, but they’ll be back in time.”</p><p>“Good. That’s good.”</p><p>Ezra leans over him and asks, “Do you guys know what ‘the Klaar Initiative’ is?”</p><p>“Yes; we were able to break into a research station a little while back,” Cere says. “The records there show that this planet was originally a terraforming experiment, and then a weapons test site, for an organisation or state called ‘the Ascendancy’.”</p><p>Luke has never heard that name, but Ezra clearly has, by the way his face darkens. “Right. That tracks.”</p><p>He says nothing more, so Luke steps in to say, “We’ll leave R3 with you, and we’ll call if anything changes.”</p><p>“Likewise,” Cere says, “And, Luke…thank you. For coming.”</p><p>“Haven’t got you out yet,” Luke says, trying for light-hearted.</p><p>“Still.” There’s a moment of silence, then she says, “We’ll see you in nine hours. And good luck.”</p><p>R3 says goodbye, too, and then the comm channel closes.</p><p>For a moment the two of them sit in silence. Then Luke says quietly, “They’re alive.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Ezra says, “Now we just have to get to them.”</p><p>/</p><p>Despite what’s coming, Ezra still manages to sleep. He wakes jumpy and nervous, and he’s already halfway through a cup of caf by the time Luke walks in. “You look more nervous than me,” he comments, and Ezra gives him a withering look.</p><p>“I’m the one handling the proton torpedoes.”</p><p>“That’s just point and shoot,” Luke says, “Besides, I have to get you lined up for a shot.”</p><p>“Just drink your caf,” Ezra says, pushing it toward him.</p><p>They settle into their by now usual positions in the cockpit, Luke taking the pilot’s chair while Ezra has the co-pilot’s seat. When they call down to the planet, Cere comes back on the line to confirm the survivors are all ready, and then there’s nothing left to do but go for it.</p><p>Ezra is the one manning the scanners as Luke takes them in on his planned flight path. They’ll stay out of the stations’ range for as long as possible, soaring in high above the planet’s northern pole, right up until Luke dives down to thread the needle between them. Ezra is taking a much closer look at the stations than they’ve been able to before, searching for a weak spot before he wastes one of their precious, limited supply of torpedoes. It takes a while, flipping back and forth between scans and analysing an unfamiliar system of design, so they’re almost in place to make their dive when Ezra says, “There. They have a bank of repulsors along the bottom surface; those are always a weak point.”</p><p>“Why would they need repulsors if they’re in orbit?” Luke asks.</p><p>“Probably so they can also fly in-atmo,” Ezra says, which is not a particularly reassuring thought. “Get us on this vector, or something like it, and I should have a shot.”</p><p>Luke tears his eyes away from his instruments for a second to look at the tactical map. “Right. You’ll only have a second.”</p><p>“A second’s all it takes,” Ezra says, grinning at him, and is gratified when Luke grins back despite the tension that’s tightening his shoulders.</p><p>Luke pauses for a second at the apex of their flight plan and looks at him. “Ready?”</p><p>“Ready,” Ezra says. For a second he gets the urge to reach out and squeeze Luke’s hand, but he clamps down on it. <em>Not right now, brain, not right now.</em></p><p>“Okay,” Luke says, and then he’s tilting the ship forward, sending them hurtling down toward the planet.</p><p>The reaction from the orbital stations is fast; they’re firing within half a minute of them starting their descent. They’re at such long range, though, that the bursts of laserfire from their cannons are no more than harmless light by the time they reach the vicinity of the ship. Luke dodges them easily, Ezra begins warming up the proton torpedoes, and everything is going to plan - until the nearest orbital station begins to move.</p><p>“I just knew they’d do that,” Ezra mutters. “Keep flying, I’m re-calculating-”</p><p>“The window’s coming up for the proton torpedo,” Luke says tightly.</p><p>“Let me handle it,” Ezra says, his fingers flying over the panels on his side. The station moving toward them means the laser fire coming their way won’t be ineffectual any more, but it also potentially makes their shot easier- if he can just calculate the correct vector-</p><p>“Seven three two,” he says, and Luke does it, throwing the <em>Spirit </em>around so the proton torpedo launcher at the front of the ship is pointed directly at the station. Ezra has nothing but a <em>second</em>, and he reaches out instinctively, his eyes half-closing as he <em>feels </em>the distance between the ship and the station, the Force whispering <em>now </em>as he presses the button to launch the missile. He hears the muffled burst of air and the clunk of machinery as it fires, and sees it swoop out toward the station on the tactical map. Luke has already pointed their nose back down at the ground, gunning hard for the surface, but Ezra watches the scanner as the torpedo arcs toward the station, moving so fast the instruments can barely track it. He sees it make contact, and his eyes flick to the readout, assessing the damage. “Got it,” he hisses, and Luke whoops next to him.</p><p>When he looks up Ezra realises they’ve made it through the atmosphere, and the thick forest covering the surface is coming up fast. Luke tilts the ship again and they whizz along, too close to the canopy for even Ezra’s liking, for what feels like only seconds before the still half-intact wreckage of a starship rears up out of the forest. Luke brakes hard, turns, and drops the ship, Ezra just about managing to hit the button for the landing gear in time. They come down with quite a bump, but they’ve done it; they’re down.</p><p>“We did it!” Luke half-yells, releasing the controls with a gasp.</p><p>“That was kriffing amazing,” Ezra says, still breathless and, if he’s honest, slightly sick. Luke turns to him, grinning from ear to ear, happy and triumphant and so goddamn <em>pretty</em>, and Ezra leans over to kiss him without really thinking about it.</p><p>It only lasts a second, mostly because Luke, caught totally off-guard, makes a sort of ‘mmpphh’ noise that wakes Ezra up to the fact that yeah, that was weird, he should probably pull back now.</p><p>Except that when he does, Luke reaches out a hand, saying, “No, wait-” and then <em>he’s </em>the one doing the kissing, which is confusing but honestly, Ezra is in no way complaining. He could definitely get used to kissing Luke Skywalker. He’s kind of wondering now why this journey has been so light on the kissing-Luke-Skywalker element, considering all the other unimportant shit they’ve got up to.</p><p>Of course, the moment is unceremoniously broken by the arrival of a Latero in a flight suit yelling, “Fly now and kiss later lovebirds! We gotta get off this rock!”</p><p>“Right,” Luke says as they hurriedly break apart, and then he punches the engine, shooting them into the sky with such force that it plasters Ezra against his seat.</p><p>He can see on the tactical map that the other orbital stations are moving now, trying to plug the hole in their defences, but there’s no chance of them doing it in time to stop their escape. As they shoot toward the darkness of wide open space, Ezra starts programming the hyperdrive, ignoring the sudden rush of voices behind him. Hyperdrive calculations are always crucial, and even more so in Wild Space, with all the uncharted areas and unknown dangers just waiting to trip you up. “Angle away from our entry point, or we’ll just get caught in the same trap,” he tells Luke, and they spin away, ending up all the way on the other side of the system before Ezra finally feels confident enough to try the hyperspace lever.</p><p>Ezra feels the familiar <em>tug </em>in the pit of his stomach, the star lines elongate, and then the view outside changes to swirling blue. A perfect jump.</p><p>Luke sits back in the pilot’s seat and passes a hand across his eyes. “I don’t often say this,” he murmurs, “but I think I need a drink.”</p><p>“You and me both, kid,” the Latero mutters.</p><p>“And I need a fresher,” says a man who, even under ten years of dirt and beard, is still recognisable as Cal Kestis.</p><p>“And a razor,” Ezra says, standing on slightly shaky legs. “Come on. Fresher’s this way.”</p><p>A little while later, when everyone who needs them has found freshers and beds, and when they’ve readjusted their course to take them back toward Republic space, Ezra finds Luke in the crew lounge. The promised drink is sitting on the table in front of him, half-full. “Helping?” Ezra asks as he sits down.</p><p>“Somewhat.” Luke gives him a little smile. “How are you doing, after all that?”</p><p>“Fine,” Ezra says, though his hands still feel like they’re shaking. They fall silent, and there’s a lot of things Ezra could bring up to fill it - he could discuss their mission, maybe, or talk about the people they’ve rescued, or ask Luke if he’s really feeling okay.</p><p>He could say what he really wants to; that he’s been thinking about Luke and his travelling ship of padawans, and how that sounds pretty good, actually. How he might like to see if there’s a place he could fit in there, among them.</p><p>But he’s not brave enough to say that - not yet - so what he says instead is, “We could… continue. You know. From where we left off.”</p><p>Luke raises an eyebrow, and asks, “When?” although he can’t possibly not know.</p><p>“You know when,” Ezra says, and Luke grins at him.</p><p>“Okay,” Luke says, sliding easily out from behind the table, “Your place or mine?”</p><p>“Well, since my room is full of sleeping shipwreck survivors, I’m afraid I’ll have to impose,” Ezra says, holding out a hand to him.</p><p>Laughing, Luke takes it, and uses his grip to pull Ezra in for a kiss.</p>
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